Through the storm: psychoanalytic theory in the psychotherapy of the anxiety disorders

Anxiety is one of the most ubiquitous problems facing human beings. The author summarizes the views of the major psychodynamic theorists who have contributed to a psychoanalytic understanding of anxiety: Freud's toxic and signal theories; the interpersonal schools of Harry Stack Sullivan, Karen Horney, and Frieda Fromm-Reichmann; the object relations theorists; and the self-psychological perspective of Heinz Kohut. The author then describes how each of these schools provides a different way to appreciate and work with anxiety. She emphasizes the containing and soothing functions of therapy, which have their roots in several of the theories.